Only a courageous and righteous individual can advance the cause of human rights when confronted with powerful conformist forces.
In 2012 a B.C. Supreme Court judge proclaimed the laws against physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is currently wasting time and money challenging the B.C. judge’s ruling. The issue may eventually end up in the Supreme Court of Canada.
The federal government is arguing physician-assisted suicide could lead to patient abuse. Many terminally ill patients are already suffering abuse. They are trapped in an insensitive institutional maze, stripped of their dignity and powerless to control their destiny.
If Harper had compassion, imagination and courage, he would have legislation drafted that would grant physician-assisted suicide to those who want that option while fully protecting those who do not. Unfortunately, there is no one in Harper’s government with enough nerve to say the state has no business lengthening the pointless suffering of terminally ill human beings who want the right to request a dignified and painless death.
Lloyd Atkins
Vernon
